1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a frame structure for housing panel plates, such as printed circuit boards used in electrical and electronic devices, as well as panel plates for use in other industrial fields, such as panels used as construction materials. More particularly, the present invention relates to a frame structure that is capable of readily accommodating variations in the width dimension of the panel plates to be housed.
2. Discussion of Background
A prior art frame structure will now be described with reference to FIG. 10. The frame structure shown in the drawing comprises a top plate 91 that is spaced from a bottom plate 92. The top plate 91 is fixed to the bottom plate 92 by four support columns 93. The frame structure also has an immovable side frame board 94 that is erected on either the right or left side, and a movable side frame board 95 that is erected on the other side and can be moved horizontally toward the immovable side frame board 94. In order to secure the movable side frame board 95 at a desired position, sliding frames 98 are disposed between the top plate 91 and the bottom plate 92. The top and bottom plates are each provided with a pair of parallel slots 96 through which are inserted the fastening ends of fastening members 97, such as hexagon-headed bolts or screws, protruded upwardly and downwardly from the sliding frames 98 on the outer side of the movable side frame board 95, that can fasten the frames 98 by mating members 99 such as a nut or the like. The inner faces of the side frame boards 94 and 95 are provided with a plurality of horizontally extending lateral support grooves 100. Each of a plurality of panel plates 101 can be individually supported in a horizontal position between the side frame boards 94 and 95 by the lateral grooves 100.
The distance between the two side frame boards is adjusted in accordance with the width of the panel plates to be housed. Since if the board distance is the same as the width of the panel plates that are housed, it becomes difficult to smoothly insert or remove a plate, it is necessary to house the plates with a slight clearance. However, setting this clearance requires fine adjustment of the distance between the side frame boards 94 and 95, which is time-consuming. Moreover, it is not easy to always set the same clearance.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a frame structure that does not have the above-described drawbacks, in which a distance between the side frame boards that includes a predetermined clearance can be set with high speed and high precision.